Cloth-laying machine



(No Model.)

BQLL. 00X. CLOTH LAYING MACHINE.

Patented 'D ec. 22, 1896.-

THE uonms PEYERS co, PHQ'YOUTHQ. WASHINGTON. D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN L. COX, OF ALLIANCE, OHIO.

CLOTH-LAYING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 573,448, dated December 22, 1896.

-Applieation filed August 7. 1896.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN L. CoX, a resident of Alliance, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloth-Layin g Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in cloth-layin g machines, the object being to provide an apparatus for carrying cloth back and forth on a table or support and spreading it out evenly preparatory to cutting it into shapes; and with this object in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts,which will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan View, and Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation.

A represents the carrier which holds and lays the cloth in folds upon the table. The carrier comprises in the main a platform 1 and one vertical side 2 at one edge of the platform. To facilitate the movement of this carrier it is mounted on wheels or rollers. There are preferably two varieties of these rollers employed, as shown. The rollers 3 3 on one side are circumferentially grooved and mounted on a track-rail a, which guides them and the carrier in its movements back and forth on the table. The other rollers 5 5 at the opposite side preferably have flat peripheries faced with some soft material, such as rubber or felt, which presents a soft surface upon the surface of the table and prevents noise or marring of the latter. While all the rollers are connected to the bottom of the platform by means of brackets 6 6, still the brackets which connect the rollers 5 5 to the carrier are adj ustably connected thereto to admit of these rollers being shifted laterally of the carrier.

A pair of vertical standards 7 7 extend up wardly at one end of the machine, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. These standards have notched upper ends, as at 8 8. In these notches the shaft 9, which carries the roll of cloth, is removably received and 'journaled. This shaft 9 preferably has one pointed end 10 to facilitate the inserting of the shaft into the center of the roll, and the opposite end is squared, as at 11, to receive a crank whereby to turn the shaft and wind orrewind cloth thereon if desired. Two disks 12 12 are secured on theshaft 9, one at each end of the roll of cloth, and one or both are held in place by means of thumb-screws 13 13. On this shaft 9 a collar 14 is also secured. A tension-plate 15 is secured in place to bear against this collar with more or less pressure, accordingly as the thumb-screw 16, which passes through it intothe standard, is turned to the right or left, the object of the constructionbeing to prevent the roll of cloth from unwinding too fast as it is pulled from the roll in the process of laying it upon the table.

Two rollers 18 and 19 are journaled in the carrier, the former preferably near the bottom and the other near the top and at the end opposite from that in which the shaft 9 is situated. The cloth is taken from the roll on shaft 9, placed under roller 18 and over roller 19, or between two rollers at 19 should it be found desirable to employ two. At this discharge end of the machine two other rollers which may be termed lay rollers 20 and 21 are located. These rollers are parallel, with a limited space intervening between them, and they are revolubly supported in a portion of the machine. They receive the cloth between them, and one and then the other of these two rollers alternately lays the cloth upon the table or layer or fold below until it is all piled evenly, one foldupon another, the roll= ers merely serving as guides, one guiding the direction of the cloth and then the other.

The outer roller 20 is journaled at its ends in arms 22 23, pivoted to the end of the machine, and a convenient means for the support of the other roller 21 consists in a strip of metal 25, extended across from one arm to the other and secured to both, whereby to com nect them together and form a kind of frame, and in the extreme ends, which protrude be yond the arms 22 23, the other roller 21 is journaled by means of pins or trunnions which extend into the ends of the plate. Guide-clips 26 26 are adjustably secured on this strip 25, they being adapted to receive and guide the cloth between them as it is fed or paid out. Their adjustment admits of their being shifted to correspond to the width of the cloth being guided between them. One of them, as well as one of the disks 12, is always placed in alinement with the side 2.

The arm 23 is preferably in the form of a bell-crank lever, and from its upper end a rod or pitman 28 extends forwardly to the handlever 29. The latter is pivoted to the side of the machine and has a latch 30, which operates, in connection with toothed segment 31, to lock the lever and its connected parts in position, so that as the cloth becomes piled up this lever is moved to raise the rollers 20 and 21 to correspond to the height of the cloth on the table or support. Then when the machine is started again of course these rollers are let down again. If the cloth to be laid on the table is not in a roll, but instead is in folds, it is placed merely on the bottom of the carrier and passed under and over and between the rollers as before.

In laying the cloth one end is fastened by means of clamps, pins 32 32, or otherwise to the table, and then the machine is run along the track, laying the cloth behind it. When the direction of the machine is reversed, it is held down at the fold by means of a clampboard 33 or some other convenient means.

It is evident that slight changes might be made in the form and arrangement of parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not Wish to limit myself to the exact construction herein set forth; but,

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A carrier mounted on grooved and fiat rollers or wheels, the grooved ones adapted to travel on a track and the others on a flat surface, the latter being laterally adjustable, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the frame of a cloth-layin g machine, of arms pivoted thereto, a pair of rollers carried by the arms, an operating lever, a rod or pitman extending therefrom to one of the arms in which the rollers are journaled, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the frame of a cloth-laying machine,of arms pivoted thereto, a roller journaled in the arms, a strip secured at its ends to said arms, a roller journaled in the ends of this strip, guide-clips connected with the strip, and means for adjusting said rollers up and down, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the frame of a cloth-laying machine, of a shaft for carrying the cloth rolled thereon, said shaft having a collar secured thereon and a tension device connected with the frame, and adapted to bear on the collar on the shaft, and means for regulating the tension with which this device bears on the collar, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribng witnesses. v

BENJAMIN L. COX.

\Vitnesses JOHN THOMAS, JAMES STEWART. 

